Opinion
Recession relents — but in New Jersey, may relapse
This hAs Been the wettest sum- Zangari, head of the smart Growth inheritance taxes.
Corner Office
mer in new Jersey history and the economic Development coalition, even worse, we have leaders,
second-coldest; it goes with the year. and the other leaders who assist- Have a hard-hitting stance on a New Jersey business issue? If you are a like the head of the sierra club in
half the state seems under water and ed that coalition. however, there business or policy leader with a strong opinion, we want to hear from you. new Jersey, who have insinuated
the other half is under arrest. nev- is much yet to be done to ensure Please send op-ed proposals to editorial@njbiz.com. that the recent arrests are a result of
ertheless, there is some very good that new Jersey fully participates in the governor’s economic stimulus
news. first of all, the recession is, for this recovery. benefits and pensions. of other regulations. estimates package, which is being accused
all intents and purposes, over. We The first is to end this insidi- While we have generated have been made that 30 percent of of “stimulating campaign financ-
bottomed out in the first quarter; ous cycle of corruption which has almost no new private-sector jobs in the cost of a new home is the result es” rather than “stimulating the
corporate profits are up, consum- made our state the butt of count- a decade, we have seen a substantial of complying with government economy and putting people back
er confidence is up, retail sales are less jokes. Part of this problem lays growth in government jobs. regulations. As a result, coupled to work.” comments like these are
up, housing starts are up and home in “home rule,” where even minor in a geographically challenged with our over-regulation of land, ridiculous, since the alleged crimes
sales are up. of course, these num- officials can stop multimillion-dol- state, we have 566 municipalities, all took place before the bills were
ber are all still off the lofty heights lar projects. it is a strange culture and these duplications of services signed. And, ultimately, comments
of 2007, but that’s to be in which public officials cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It is a strange culture in like this hurt the reputation of the
expected. Meanwhile, are willing to risk jail As an example, we have municipal which public officials are state as a good place to locate or
the talking heads on sentences for a few thou- police, transit police, park police, expand a business, thus thwarting
willing to risk jail
TV are trying harder sand dollars. They just county police, state police, Port federal efforts to bring jobs back
and harder to find bad don’t seem to get that Authority police, Palisades Parkway sentences for a few to new Jersey in order to stimulate
news for their broad- bribery is a crime, not a police and countless others whose thousand dollars. They job growth.
casts. everything is up, right of public office. administrative costs compound just don’t seem to get that The country is coming out of its
“but” (as they would The second prob- each other. deepest recession since World War
bribery is a crime, not a
say) is always followed lem is the inefficiency of The net result is that with so ii. new Jersey, despite the recent
by some negative prog- government. i have been many government workers and such right of public office. flood of economic stimulus bills, still
nostication. told that one out of every generous benefits, we have a tax bur- is a long way from being in a posi-
As for new Jersey, David T. Houston Jr. seven workers in new den that is not acceptable. tion to benefit from this recovery. it
to participate in this Jersey works for some needless to say, therefore, our housing costs are beyond the is time to recognize that the policies
recovery we needed to make a lot of governmental agency, and new Jer- we also over-regulate. While the reach of many who would like to and philosophies of the last 10 years
changes. The new legislation, which sey has more than 4,000 govern- Licensed site remediation Profes- live or stay here. We do not retain have been brutal. u
has been passed, is a start. We owe a mental agencies. even worse, many sional program privatized many our senior citizens or our bright -----------------------------------------
huge debt of gratitude to sen. Ray- people hold multiple offices, which minor environmental permits, we young college graduates because David T. Houston Jr. is president of Col-
mond J. Lesniak (D-union) and Ted entitles then to multiples salaries, need to apply this model to a host of housing costs, income taxes and liers Houston & Co., based in T